J&P Cycles Gears Up to Customize Four Bikes

Greetings everyone and welcome to 2013! First off, thank you for the support and comment posts on my last blog entries. It’s great to hear from you! Believe it or not, I read each and every comment and had a blast doing it. Now, let’s get down to business, shall we? We’re going to leave the worlds of motorcycling philosophy and needling popular culture behind for a while and get down to why you’re here, and I have a job…BIKES!

If you have been a customer of J&P Cycles over the years you have seen some killer custom machines grace our catalog covers and displayed in our showrooms. It’s been a couple of years since we turned out a new bike so, like so many of you, we have the itch and it must be scratched. This time around we’re taking a different approach, though. Instead of a ground-up build we are going to recreate the experience shared by the majority of our customers. Here you have this sweet, new ride, but it’s bone-stock, not shiny enough or too shiny, too loud or not loud enough, sits too high or sits too low…I think you know what I’m getting at here. The bike is just not “yours.” Well, we hear you and we’re going to do our best to inspire you.

The project is being headed up by Sean Salger, merchandising manager for J&P Cycles and a highly experienced technician. He recently returned from a Midwest excursion to fill a trailer with not one, but three new bikes fresh off various dealer floors. Instead of locking Sean in the shop with a single assistant for weeks on end, he’s going to get all of us desk jockeys involved. When he’s working on aspects of the customization involving the lines we manage, we’re going to be right there with him, wrenching, learning and getting grease under our nails…and we can’t wait!

Now we’re talking full front to back customization. The various customizations are going to range from simple bolt-on additions to more advanced work. We want to encourage you to tear into your ride by confirming that a lot of this stuff can be done – by you – in your garage. We’re going to document the process take photos and some videos to keep all of you involved every step of the way. We’re on an aggressive schedule, so my blog updates won’t be real-time, per se. The goal is to have the bikes ready to debut at J&P Cycles’ Destination Daytona SuperStore for Daytona Bike Week starting March 8. Following Bike Week, the bikes will hit the road and travel the country on J&P’s Showroom Semi.

I caught up with Sean to get his perspective on the work ahead of him and to find out why these bikes were chosen. According to Sean, the motorcycles being worked on all lend themselves to heavy customization and he believes they will be extremely popular models this year.

What work is being done on these machines? The Trike and Goldwing will be largely outfitted for performance with custom suspension and exhaust being the biggest upgrades. The 72 came from the factory sporting a low-rider vibe with heavy metal-flake paint. We’re going to keep going on that look with a lot of chrome and some fat spoke wheels. The Slim is a bare-bones Big Twin with a focus on functionality, so we are going to enhance that feature with the RSD Clarity line of products and some very cool internals for all to see.

When asked how he felt about working with less experienced shop helpers Sean said he’s excited about the prospect. Sean says he truly enjoys teaching others about motorcycles and thinks it’s always great when someone realizes they’re capable of taking on many great projects for themselves.

Where my part is concerned, I’m going to do my best to bring you along for the journey highlighting the parts used complete with J&P part numbers. This will ensure that if something catches your eye, you can order the part and get it bolted on or installed as quickly as possible. I hope you enjoy the updates as they come in. More importantly, I hope you gather some ideas for your bike because making your bike your statement is all a part of the whole experience.

[…] (72), a 2013 Softail® FLS (Slim), a 2012 FLHTCUTG Tri-Glide® and a 2012 Goldwing GL1800P, here. We have been busy in the last month! Here is a low down on the work […]

Dirty Mike and the Boyz
February 21, 2013 at 2:14 am

I miss Cody !

Roy Praschil
February 14, 2013 at 9:39 am

I totally agree with Ray. The only thing I would add is a Victory (Kingpin, Cross Country Tour, or any of the many Victory motorcycles).

Dirty Mike and the Boyz
February 21, 2013 at 12:29 am

I am glad some one Gave Sean a new shirt !!!!!

Just a bunch of rolling bill boards …..

Yawn =/

Dirty Mike and the Boyz
February 21, 2013 at 2:15 am

My bad Roy just a General Reply

Ray Heller
February 13, 2013 at 10:13 am

Here we go again. I love your catalog and the way you are the leader in providing custom stuff for us metric riders. However, three Harleys and a Goldwing? Instead of three Harleys how about one of them, then a V Star and maybe a Boulavard (sp) and what about a Kawasaki Vulcan. I see a lot of these metric bikes out there being riden by those of us who can’t afford the initial Harley investment yet love to ride. It just seems to me that if you want to do your customers justice, you should include a few metric cruisers in you custom customization. Maybe next time, okay guys? Thanks.

Brad Strickler
February 12, 2013 at 10:24 pm

Honestly, I am anxious and excited to see what sort of ideas you have for the Slim. I bought a 2012 Slim in July….BECAUSE IT FIT ME !! Rode a chromed out-80 spoked-custom painted ’99 Sportster for 9 years. I love it (and kept it) but really enjoy rocking & rolling on the Slim. I have done several subtle upgrades and have worked hard to maintain the old school style of the bike. V&H said their Staggered Straight Shots would not fit the 2012 Slim……they were wrong! Ditch the cheesy plastic OEM side mount license plate bracket. Kuryakyn makes a sweet side mount for the Softail but the Vertical Mount only comes in chrome??? Get Real, need black on that baby! Well, powder coated it in gloss black and no one else around here has one like it. LETS SEE THE RS STUFF ON THAT SLIM SOON !!

Dayton Lawson
February 12, 2013 at 10:03 pm

As somebody allready said, why not do a full custom on another American bike like Indian. As everyone knows they are pretty high priced bikes and we should exspect to see them get more affordable as used bike prices fall and when that happens we’ll see more people wanting to customize those bikes. So give us a heads up look and show what can be done.

Scott Fredericks
February 12, 2013 at 7:31 pm

Im looking forward to your slim build. I have a black 2012 slim with over 7,000 miles .look forward to seeing your progress.

Russell
February 12, 2013 at 7:25 pm

Why don’t you give everyone a chance to win one of these bikes you customize?

Chip Wyble
February 12, 2013 at 4:29 pm

I have a black denim 2012 Slim with RSD Clarity line intake, derby, and timing covers along with many more custom parts. It’s a very clean look, but I must say that this build with disappoint me. I purposely went out of my way for after market parts that weren’t common. Hope this doesn’t make a look that is a “production custom” line, like everyone else running Screaming Eagle Stage 1 kits with VH pipes. I do my best to be original and get away from the norm. Yes Roland Sands parts are used and I am definitely not the only person running them. But, as a custom owner I would much rather see individuals use their own imagination to build their bikes just as I did.

josh powell
February 12, 2013 at 2:49 pm

You know, there are other american bikes besides harley davidson, it would be nice to see you guys customize a victory or something. You can’t do anything to a Harley that hasn’t already been done. Pick a new center peice. And for gods sake tell the aftermarket manufacturers that there are other motorcycles besides the beloved harley davidson. I’m just sayin.

Gary Smith
February 12, 2013 at 2:03 pm

Really anxious to see what you do to the Trike. We have an 11 Tri-Glide with cams, exhaust and full Willie G treatment. We get lots of compliments but are always looking for ways to improve!

I am looking forward to seeing what you all do with the bikes. I got into the sport a year ago with a 05 1200XLC sporty and I love my bike I am looking forward to making it my own this year.

MICHAEL BUSZKA
January 30, 2013 at 6:19 pm

I ALSO HAVE A 2013 HARLEY SPORSTER “72”. IT WILL BE COOL TO SEE WHAT YOU DO TO YOURS. RIGHT NOW MINE IS STOCK. LOOKING TO UPGRADE THE SEAT AND EXHAUST FOR STARTERS. ALSO ADD SOME MORE CHROME. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR “72”

Brett Koranda
February 11, 2013 at 4:44 pm

We’re having some fun with the “72”. Stay tuned, I have an update coming soon.

have 97 XL with 1200 kit custom paint fatbob rear fender ,custom chrome and headlight,bars . can wait to see what can be done with wheels and anything else I can do in my garage

Dave Ahlman
January 30, 2013 at 1:43 pm

I would of gladly let you have my ’03 shadow sabre to upgrade, its almost like new, I picked it up 3yrs ago and it only had 1800 miles on it. I have been slowly putting upgrades on .But otherwise I love the bike and getting out to ride when the weather warms up.